Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

PWOC Convention Charts Future Course

First Published:The Organizer, Vol. 3, No. 8, October 1977.Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul SabaCopyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.

Meeting in convention last month, the PWOC summed up its past work, took stock of its present situation, and charted its course for the future. The Convention is the highest decision making body in the PWOC and determines the overall line, direction and leadership for the organization.

The Convention adopted a main political resolution which sought to define the overall political context for most immediate tasks, a resolution on the Afro-American National Question which summed up our theoretical work in that area and a resolution on the international situation.

The most important discussion focused on the main political report which analysed the strengths and weaknesses of PWOC work over the past period and outlined the plan of work for the coming one. The Convention also approved some amendments to the PWOC rules and elected a new Executive Committee.

The main theme of the Convention was summed up in the slogan “The Year of the Advanced Tasks” – the need to take up and develop the work of winning the advanced workers to Marxism-Leninism and building a communist current in the working class. The need to correct deficiencies in organization, to fight for a more systematic and collective approach to these tasks was pinpointed in the report and discussion as the key to implementing this slogan.

Strengthening the overall ideological grasp of PWOC cadre and rectifying rightist tendencies in outlook and practice was also identified as a critical element in a more consistent and aggressive pursuit of the advanced tasks.

Pessimism about the strength and potentials of the fightback movement, overestimation of the strength of reaction and a tendency to minimize the danger of revisionism are the features of a rightist outlook in the PWOC. In practice, this outlook takes the form of tailism in relation to propaganda and recruitment work and thus threatens our capacity to address the advanced tasks.

The right tendency by no means took the form of hard and fast positions on questions facing the PWOC, nor was this tendency primary in the work of the overwhelming majority of PWOC cadre. But the Convention rightfully understood that unless measures of rectification are aggressively pursued, errors become deviations and tendencies become definite trends.

Both the political report and the discussion emphasized the critical role of organization in rectifying these weaknesses. Without systematic attention to carrying out tasks, without a clear line of communication between leadership and rank and file and without a consistent practice of criticism-self-criticism, cadre will tend to lose focus in their work, become demoralized and make errors. Only with a more conscious and systematic approach to our work can we lay the basis for successful implementation, testing and refinement of line.

FOR A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Another related theme of the Convention was the importance of national work. The political report noted, that while much remains to be done locally, fundamentally we have come up against the limits of a local form of organization. To further advance in the process of party-building and fusing Marxism-Leninism with the working class movement, national forms are needed.

Immediately, this means a leading ideological center for the Marxist-Leninist trend that can lay the groundwork for national organization. The PWOC as a whole needs to be more connected with this work and bend every effort to insure that it succeeds.

An ambitious plan of work was adopted.

Essentially, the plan of work represents deepening and strengthening of our activity in areas where we are already committed. However, some new focal points were also identified. Among them were the need for systematic theoretical work on the international question, particularly the aspect of the character and role of the Soviet Union, a more systematic approach to the Latino community, and the development of PWOC work in the women’s liberation movement.

Consistent with the emphasis on the advanced tasks, the plan calls for focusing resources and energy on propaganda and agitation work aimed at the advanced workers, the further development of Organizer circles and recruitment. The plan also calls for strengthening the multi-nationality of the PWOC, emphasizing the need for white cadre to improve their practice in the struggle against racism and more systematically approaching the recruitment of workers and activists from the oppressed nationalities.

PWOC UNITED AND RESOLUTE

The Convention saw broad participation from the membership in the discussion and debate. The PWOC emerged from the Convention with a deeper appreciation of its tasks and with the unity and resolution to carry them forward. In future issues of the Organizer we will publish some of the Convention materials. We hope to have a packet of the resolutions and general political report available in the near future.